New Advances in VoIP 911 Service

We’re well aware that telecom technology has come a long way baby, and advances in VoIP 911 service takes it another step further.

From the POT to VoIP [Voice over Internet Protocol] and smartphones, portable phones have just about become man’s most vital appendage. For us mere mortals, one doesn’t feel safe leaving the home or office without our devices. Landlines on the other hand, by nature of their stationary wired connection tied to copper wires and telecommunications networks is no longer a 21st Century requirement, especially with the development of VoIP 911 service.

Survey says

Landlines are already going the way of the dinosaur. According to the National Health Interview Survey conducted in 2013 pertaining cell phone vs. landline preference, 41% of households no longer have a landline. That means two in every five American homes had a wireless telephone [aka as cell phones, cellular phones, mobile phones, smartphones and VoIP service on laptops and tablets.]

The estimates are based on in-person interviews, which NHIS conducts continuously throughout the year to document data on health status, health-related behaviors, and health care access and utilization. With the cell-phone preference stats growing from year to year, it appears that even the seniors with health issues are also acclimating to giving up the security of their landlines.

When the landline was a lifeline

There are some valid reasons as to why some are still reticent about giving up their landlines. One pertains to emergencies and the 911 service that supports them. Specifically, when you dial “911” on your landline phone, emergency personnel could immediately pinpoint your location. This coupled with the fact that traditional corded telephones are connected to copper wire [versus a modem] and will continue to work without electricity should our power go out gave many a sense of security that cell phones lacked.

These times, they are a changing

However while the electricity argument does sound like a deal-breaker as to why you might want to hold on to your landline as a security blanket, that option may no longer be available to you in many communities throughout the U.S.

AT&T and Verizon are two telcoms pushing hard to shift traditional landline service and those copper lines, to a system of Internet-based phones by around 2020. If the Federal Communications Commission approves this transition as proposed, it could come as a shock to the 96 million Americans who still rely on landlines.

Many say this switch is inevitable. The old copper lines are aging and generally just too expensive to maintain. In 2012 for instance, after Hurricane Sandy destroyed much of the copper infrastructure in western Fire Island, N.Y., Verizon chose not to fix the phone lines. Instead, it proposed replacing them with Voice Link, a substitute that connects to the cellular network.

One of the proponents of getting away from the copper wire landline network is also a decision made by AT&T. “Our current infrastructure has served us well for almost a century but it no longer meets the needs of America’s consumers,” said AT&T senior executive vice president Jim Cicconi in AT&T’s public policy blog. Research by Georgetown University found that between 2006 and 2011, regional phone companies spent $81 billion on legacy networks, compared to $73 billion spent on broadband infrastructure.

This trend has continued throughout the country particularly in coastal and midwest cities hit by hurricanes, tornadoes and Nor’easters!

And these Internet systems are already in use, with VoIP services growing for both business and personal use. As of December 2012, 42 million Americans had Internet-based phones.

VoIP weighs in

For small businesses and even home use, cloud based phone systems like Telzio offer VoIP 911 service along with a level of flexibility that landlines simply do not. Not only is setup inexpensive and easy, offices don’t have to be wired for the phones, and moving the entire phone system to a new location is essentially a plug and play endeavor. Plus, custom plans help SMBs reduce their annual telephone costs exponentially.

Regarding the 911 concern with cell phones, Telzio’s chief executive officer, Peter Rank Schrøder notes it’s not the issue it was in the past.

Today when you dial 911 from a cell phone, the emergency responder gets an approximate location from your cell phone carrier. They can essentially pinpoint your location by triangulating your cell phone’s connection to the cell phone towers – down to a few hundred feet accuracy.

Schrøder adds:

The next-gen 911 service that’s currently being rolled out for cell phone operators as well as VoIP providers will enable transmission of GPS coordinates, live video sessions, and much more.

For example, the new 911 network will be operating via technology similar to SIP [Session Initiation Protocol], making it possible to transmit all sorts of data. Voice, video, text and so on. This would allow the operator to establish a direct video connection to the caller, and offer help that way, as well as receive GPS coordinates for the phone’s specific location.

Schrøder notes:

The improvements will make the 911 service on VoIP and wireless devices much better than on a POTS line.

When I queried about the time table for this technology to be implemented Schrøder responded:

My guess is that most carriers and CLEC’s [Competitive Local Exchange Carrier] will implement it over the next 2 years.

So yes, while the smartphone generation will extol the virtues of 21st Century mobile communication, let us also send a fond farewell to the dinosaur we know as the landline. And in their eulogy, we should give pause to a by-gone era when we all had the freedom to live our lives without the constant expectation that someone was always trying to reach us — when there was no anxiety leaving our front door without a mobile device attached at our hip.

Acknowledge that while technology has moved on, it’s still got a long way to go, baby — less we forget about all those ‘dropped calls,’ ‘feeble batteries,’ ‘cell towers few-and-far-between,’ and yes, especially the times when dialing 911 was quicker and more efficient on a landline — when we were assured of early responders knowing exactly where we could be found.